Global Religion

The map above depicts the way Christianity is presently dispersed across the globe.

The highest density is seen in South America. In part, that was begun by Catholic missions in past centuries and, more recently, the explosive growth of Pentecostalism among Hispanic peoples.

North America is less densely Christian but still has a healthy believing population as does Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. It is interesting that in Europe, though, in many places, only about 2% still attend church. Also, note the Phillipines, with a high Christian saturation.

Smack dab in the middle of Asia (Russia) is a big dab of green that is probably mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. The believers, globally, make up about a third of the earth's population at present, with about half of those professing Catholicism.

The vast desert stretches of orange denote a dearth of Christians in these areas dominated by Muslims. Monotheists, then, make up half of the world's population, combining Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

Israel is notably centered right in the Middle of this belt of non-Christianity. For Evangelicals, then, this is the final goal of the "Great Commission", the "go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations, then shall the end come" command. How shall this orange belt of unbelief be breached?

We live in a globalist, shrinking world, and an "electronic village." Some have said that the real thing that brought down the former Soviet Union was the Internet. The Internet is presently a vast networking of free information blanketing the globe, and, yes, even the Middle East.

Much of Islam is under theocratic government, not democracy. Theocracies try to screen out all information coming to their peoples that criticize or question these regimes. That is because people tend to follow what they know, and it is a means of control. Once you open up democracy, people then have to sift through information that contradicts what they believe or have been taught to believe. Of course, Muslim leaders don't want to encourage the Western poisons of gambling, pornography, and materialism that would come through the Internet either. But surely one of the biggest problems would be Christian propaganda.

Christianity is Islam's biggest competitor. No matter what denominational form the message comes in, the message of Christ is world-shattering. One of Islam's central tenets is that Islam will win in the end. Allah will triumph. And Christ will return as an Islamist.

Christianity, though, holds that "the meek shall inherit the earth," and interprets the "meek" as those who follow Christ, not Mohammed. We must assume that truth and justice will overtake the earth some day. Will it come from one or the other of the two predominant religious framing narratives of mankind?

The message of Christ actually penetrated the whole earth in the days of the apostles. It began in "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." But the "uttermost parts" in those days was not what it is now. We are literally standing at the threshold of the moment that the whole earth might hear the good news.